Click through for the full version, but I took the liberty of highlighting the San Francisco routes for your viewing pleasure.

And in other shipping news, check out this rather awesome 1859 report on the progress of the US Coast Survey (PDF). Lots of information on San Francisco in the 1850s. A description of the conditions of San Francisco Bay starts at p.333, and p. 346 goes into detail on clipper ships:

The report also mentions what must have been mind-blowing travel times of the new steamships.

It seems that the Golden Age took over the Panama-SF route from the steamship SS California which had been making the run since 1849, leaving New York in 1848.

California left New York City on 6 October 1848 with only a partial load of her about 60 saloon (about $300 fare) and 150 steerage (about $150 fare) passenger capacity. Only a few were going all the way to California.[8] Her crew numbered about 36 men. She left New York well before definite word of the California Gold Rush had reached the East Coast.

She was originally named the San Francisco and slated for service between Australia and Panama. She sailed from New York on September 30, 1853 and went via Liverpool, the Cape of Good Hope, King George’s Sound (Australia), and Melbourne to Sydney. She operated coastal service in Australia until sailing for Panama on May 12, 1854. Pacific Mail purchased her at Panama in August 1854 and used her on their San Francisco-Panama run through 1869. She was later transferred to the Yokohama-Shanghai branch of Pacific Mail. The Golden Age was sold to the Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company in 1875 and renamed Hiroshima Maru.

And to wrap things up, I added the SS Golden Age to this infographic comparing the sizes the container ships of our era, via Quartz. While I couldn’t find the exact length of the Golden Age, its contemporaries seemed to be around 270 feet long, or about 80 meters.)

That Quartz article talks about two of my favorite things, ships and Lego. Lego made a number of floating boats, including one for Maersk. I of course had the firefighting boat and the police boat:

I still have these in a box at my parents house, along with my space Legos — you can see the red counterweight at the bottom:

He was an artist from Cosala, Sinaloa, Mexico, who painted portraits and tropical landscapes at his studio at Grant & Washington Streets. Local angle: Fortunato’s daughter Elizabeth and her daughter, Belle lived at 261 Winfield in Bernal Heights. They both died there in1928.

Fortunato Arriola was my great-great grandfather. I am descended from his daughter Herminia that also painted. Herminia ultimately settled in the San Diego area. I am looking for info on Fortunato’s parents. Leave a reply if you know any info.